Hi folks! Uh… yeah. Please don't kill me. Please. Tons of things have happened that were completely out of my ability to change, and I have now just found the time to update this. Let it be known that I haven't abandoned it; it just… er… took a break. Yep. I know sorry doesn't cover it, but I can't give you all money (on account I don't know where you all live and I am broke) and this is the best I can do.
Arrele: We don't own Narnia or NUUUUUUUURNIA as this girl
called Mikura likes to say…. Man, it's been forever since I said this... why am I complaining?
Previously…
"N- nothing. Nothing at all." He said quietly, dropping the appendage like it was on fire. Suddenly the purpose of why he had come to Spare Oom in the first place came to him, and the urgency of it pressed on him. Tumnus wanted to speak to Lucy dearly, but he suddenly found his throat dry and he became aware of the others still around him. This was not the right time for them to talk alone.
The little queen stared at him apprehensively, but didn't say anything, for Mrs. Macready had finally found them. She held a letter in her hand and was waving it around.
"Children, I have a letter from your mother, come here now so I won't have to shout!" The housekeeper yelled.
Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy brightened at the idea of a contact with their mom, and they all ran over to Mrs. Macready. Tumnus stood back, still perturbed by the fact that the trees or animals didn't speak here. Did that mean he was the only Faun here too? Was this place only populated by humans? This was an eye-opening notion.
"Mr. Tumnus! Look!" Lucy called, waving the letter. The Faun walked over, curious as to what in the letter could possibly make her this excited.
"Mother is coming in a week! She got tickets on the train!" She and the other children did a small little happy dance in front of Mrs. Macready, who almost smiled, but merely muttered, "Great, another mouth to feed."
Tumnus was suddenly swept up in the dance with Lucy, and for a brief moment he was happy and undisturbed in this strange land, and the only thing that mattered was that he was with his friends. Then Edmund broke the spell.
"How is she going to react to him?" Edmund said discourteously, making everyone stop in the celebration. "He's not what she would call normal."
Lucy looked at Tumnus for a moment, too bewildered to speak. She hadn't thought of Tumnus as an abnormality, not when there were so many other creatures around her in Narnia that were odd looking. Her mother had never been to Narnia, so how would she know that Tumnus was a Faun and not some crazy freak with the legs and ears of a goat? The horns and ears could be easily covered up with a hat, but the legs and tail would be a problem.
"Well… we could disguise him!" She blurted out. They all looked at Mrs. Macready hopefully for ideas; even though the chances of her helping the children would be slim to none.
And against all expectations she considered the possibility for a moment and said, "Well, there are some spare clothes you could use, and the Professor has some unused hats in the attic. It wouldn't be too hard."
Everyone stared at her in disbelief.
The housekeeper raised an eyebrow. "What? You didn't think that I wouldn't figure out that Mr. Thomas isn't human? For goodness sake, I'm not blind you know! Now, in return for my generosity, I expect you to all help me prepare for your mother's arrival, you hear? That includes you too, goat boy."
Tumnus couldn't believe his luck. For a moment he had honestly believed that he would have to hide away in one of the spare rooms until the woman's visit was over. Gratefully he nodded. "Yes, Mrs. Macready, I'll help you whenever you need it."
"Good, because I need it now." Mrs. Macready said, "I need someone to go out and weed the garden." She was looking right at Tumnus.
"Tumnus and I would be happy to!" Lucy said, almost bouncing up and down. She had missed her mother from the second she had stepped onto the train and couldn't wait to see her again. As the others received their tasks Tumnus and Lucy headed over to the garden, where a million weeds seemed to have popped up since they were last there.
"Aw, I hate weeding." Lucy pouted.
Tumnus laughed. "Don't worry, we'll be done soon." He took another look at the garden. "I hope."
It took them two hours to finish pulling up the unwanted plants, but eventually they were done. Several times Tumnus started to tell Lucy what he had been meaning to tell her since he had woken up in Narnia from his nightmare, but each time something came up and he couldn't say anything. It was doubtful if he would ever get to tell Lucy about his worries.
Even though he was worried about his nightmares, the sun soon melted his cares away and he focused on doing the never ending series of tasks that Mrs. Macready had for him. At the end of the day all the children were exhausted, sprawled underneath the large tree and watching the sun set.
"I never knew that the Macready had so many chores for us." Edmund groaned, nursing a sore arm that had been polishing furniture all day.
"Me neither." Peter said with his eyes closed. He severely disliked brooms from now on.
"I wasn't so bad." Susan said brightly. All she had to do was shelve books in the library.
There was a pause as everyone glared at the girl, but it soon ended because they were too tired to glower for long. Tumnus leaned against the tree and looked up into the branches. Mrs. Macready had wanted him to climb the tree to get rid of some squirrel's nests that housed some particularly nasty garden wrecking squirrels, but he had to tell her that he couldn't, and Edmund had to climb up there instead. Did she think he was some kind of half mountain goat? He didn't know what to think now.
"Children! Come in and get your supper before it goes cold!" Mrs. Macready yelled, startling everyone out of their tired thoughts.
After dinner Mrs. Macready marched Tumnus into one of the mansion's unused rooms, where the woman pulled out a box full of old clothes that had belonged to the Professor many years ago.
"Here, try this on." She thrust a pair of dusty trousers into his arms. Before he could say anything he sneezed, almost dropping the clothes. For a moment it looked like the woman was going to laugh, but instead she sighed and turned to look in the closet for some less dusty attire.
Tumnus stifled another sneeze and pulled on the pants, not liking the way his hair rubbed against the fabric. The legs were very long and there was no way he could keep from stepping on them as he tried to pull them up higher. Unfortunately he pulled too hard, resulting in a loud ripping sound.
Mrs. Macready's eyes almost glowed a demonic red as she towered above him, yelling, "WHAT DID YOU DO TO THE PROFESSOR'S FAVORITE TROUSERS?"
Tumnus scrambled backwards. He was almost the same height as the woman, but at the moment she seemed almost as large as a giant. "I- I'm sorry, I d-didn't m-mean too, I can fix it…" He was stuttering again, much like when he had first spoken to Lucy. In his haste he fell over, ripping the pants even more.
The housekeeper snatched the pants off him and looked at them critically. She realized that these pants had belonged to one of the servants, and not the Professor, but she wasn't going to tell the Faun that. Not when he offered to repair them.
"Well, you can get about to fixing them later. Try these, and don't rip them this time!" She tossed a black pair at him this time.
Carefully he pulled them on, this time not ripping them, and walked around a little. It was very odd since Fauns rarely wore clothes, if none at all, outside of battle. They didn't need any. The only clothing he had worn was the red scarf that was around his neck. As he walked his hooves made a soft noise, slightly muffled by the fabric he kept stepping on. He could wear these pants, he supposed, if he didn't have to run.
He turned to face Mrs. Macready and found himself suddenly holding a white shirt and a wool hat. These weren't dusty and looked fairly new. He put the shirt on without a problem, but the hat was a bother because of his horns and his ears.
Mrs. Macready watched him struggle to put the hat on over his ears and finally jammed it on his head, hiding the irregularities. "There. Now look in the mirror and see how you look." She was surprised at how human he looked, to tell the truth, and a secret sense of satisfaction rose up to replace the annoyance that she associated with all the children in the house.
Maybe this could work after all.
After another moment of pleased silence, the door cracked open and Lucy stuck her head in, eyes widening as they took in Tumnus's new look. With a cry of glee she clapped her hands together and said, "Oh, it's perfect! Mom'll never know the difference!"
Tumnus smiled embarrassedly, doubt still nagging at the back of his mind. It would take nothing short of a miracle to pull this off.
Okay, so this chapter wasn't exciting in the least, but I felt that I had to get it up before you all gave up hope. If you didn't already. Guys? You still there?
As for now, I have this all planned out. It's just a matter of time and opportunity to type the rest out and finish it.